Vol. 11, Special Issue 10 (2022)

Author(s):
Rukkiya Siddiqui, Bidhan C Mondal, Meesam Raza, Manveen Kaur and Mohit Bharadwaj

Abstract:
The present study was conducted to determine the effect of replacing rice polish with mulberry (Morus alba) leaf powder on the average weekly feed intake and egg production of commercial laying hens. A 12-week feeding experiment was conducted on 72 White Leghorn laying chickens of 28 weeks of age. Hens were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups, each having 18 birds and three replicates of six birds. T₁ (control) hens were fed a basal diet that included rice polish as one of the feed ingredients, but in T₂, T3, and T₄ treatment groups, rice polish was replaced with mulberry leaf powder at 1/3rd, 2/3rd, and full levels, respectively. The results revealed that substituting mulberry leaf powder for rice polish had no effect on cumulative performance of laying hens in terms of feed intake and egg production (p>0.05). According to the findings of this study, rice polish (up to 4.5 percent in the diet) can be completely substituted for mulberry leaf powder in chicken feed without affecting the performance of the laying hens. Furthermore, because mulberry leaves can be procured at no cost, their incorporation is cost-effective and can help reduce feed expenditures.